Remind Me Why I'm Here, Again?
by Indubitably Flummoxed
Summary: In which Grover finally follows his dreams, Nico tries to forget, Hazel tells a lie, Jason has too much on his plate, Annabeth would rather be somewhere else, Piper needs a friend, Frank is a slacker, and Percy... well, Percy still isn't sure why he agreed to be in this dumb musical in the first place.
1. The Announcement

**I really should stop publishing new stories, you know... **

**In this story there will be eight narrators. Four of them - Percy, Annabeth, Nico, and Hazel - are featured in this chapter, and in the next one you'll get the other four - Jason, Frank, Piper, and Grover. I have evil plans for every single one of them. MUAHAHA. **

**But, umm... I really have nothing else to say here. Normally I completely abuse the AN privileges by making them stupidly long and full of random junk, but not today! :D**

* * *

_The Announcement. _

Percy Jackson sat in the back of his seventh-hour classroom, lazily watching a fly buzz around the room. He'd long since given up on watching the clock; it appeared to have been stuck somewhere around 1:45.

He had no place in this class, anyway. Drama class. It was a punishment, although no one put it like that. They said it was an opportunity - an opportunity to do something productive and "straighten up" a bit. It was dumb. Percy refused to put it any other way. But this was better than the alternative, which involved a nasty word called _expulsion_. If he got expelled from another school, his mom would probably have a coronary.

And that was one thing he couldn't have. To stomp all over his mom's heart like that… well, Percy had some problems, but that wasn't one of them. His mom was one of the only good things he had, and he wasn't stupid enough to give that up.

So that was his punishment. Auditioning for the fall play at his school. And it was a musical, of all things! Percy Jackson did _not_ sing. Not even in the shower.

Okay, maybe in the shower.

But not in an actual play! What kind of guy did they take him to be?

"Percy, are you paying attention?" Mr. Brunner, the teacher, asked suddenly, jerking Percy back to what was actually happening in class. "Pass those papers back!"

Percy grabbed the stack of papers that he hadn't realized were sitting on his desk, took the one on top, and gave the rest of the pile to the kid behind him. Nick? Was that his name? Percy didn't know, or even care much. He wasn't here to make friends. He was here to work off his punishment, and that was it.

He tried to scan the sheet, but his dyslexia was inevitably acting up, and the words were just about as readable as his stepfather's sloppy handwriting.

Mr. Brunner gave him the information he wanted to know when he told the class, "The musical, as you've just seen on your sheet, is _Les Miserables_. Auditions are tomorrow morning at nine, I expect you all to be there. Remember, just because you don't get the lead role doesn't mean you aren't good enough to be here; even a chorus boy is of the same importance as Jean Valjean himself."

It was about then that Percy tuned out, and instead started thinking about how his life was going to be for the next few months.

_Miserable_ sounded about right.

* * *

Annabeth Chase pulled out her planner and jotted down the time that was on the audition sheet - 9:00 A.M. She closed the book and put it back into her backpack, for once not listening to Mr. Brunner as he lectured on the importance of everyone to the show. She was reading the sheet, frowning a bit as she did.

Annabeth had participated in both of the school plays the previous year… as a set worker. Not as an actor on stage. She so much preferred helping design, and eventually build, the sets. Architecture was second nature to Annabeth Chase. It was her passion. Some might even say it was her life. A quick look in any of her school notebooks could tell you that much, every page filled with dimensions and blueprints and drafts.

That was the reason she took drama as a class in the first place, to be on the set crew. Unfortunately, the class required every student to audition as an actor at least once, to give them all sufficient acting experience. As Annabeth was a junior, she figured that this would be the year for that. She definitely wanted to be on the set senior year, seeing as the seniors were the set managers, the most important people in designing any set necessary for the play.

She wondered how this would turn out. She had a decent enough voice. It wasn't great, but it didn't sound like a cat that got thrown into a trash compactor. Would she really be good enough for this? Or would the more seasoned actors look down on her for her complete and utter lack of experience?

Aside from all that, she'd still be extremely glad when this whole thing was over so she could get back where she belonged: behind the scenes.

* * *

Nico di Angelo was uncomfortably shifting in his seat as Mr. Brunner continued to talk. His gaze kept drifting over to the clock, quite against his conscious will. For once, he didn't want class to be over.

That was mainly because he knew he was really going to be in for it once it did.

Nico loved acting, he really did. It was one of his favorite things to do, and although he'd never admit it, he still smiled at the memories of playing castle or astronauts or cowboys and Indians with his sister Bianca, back when he was only about five.

Oh, and back when Bianca was actually alive.

That was the core of the problem. Bianca had - after so many years, he _still_ hated saying this word, even in his thoughts - died in a car accident when he was six and she was nine.

Nico had been in the car. He'd survived, obviously. So had both his parents. The car that had hit theirs had T-boned the side that Bianca had been sitting on, and she'd died on impact. Nico's only comfort was that she hadn't felt any pain.

Pain. That was a word Nico could honestly say he was familiar with. He'd become a little obsessed with it last year, his freshman year. Done some things he was pretty ashamed of now. Left some scars, figurative and literal. If he'd rolled up his sleeves you would have been able to see fading gashes across his arms. He'd hung out with the group of kids who liked to wear black and hang out behind the school building. Yeah, cliched as it sounds, they actually did that. And Nico, like a fool, had followed right along.

And then he'd left them. You didn't _just leave_ the group. They didn't take kindly to that. But Nico hadn't really had much of a choice. He'd seen how he went wrong. He'd realized there was more to life than making yourself feel like you were in control. Because sometimes, you can't be in control. Nico had discovered that in a way he still didn't think possible… but that was a completely different subject.

Acting was his secret passion. Once he'd decided to turn his life around, it was one of the first things he'd decided to do. Even now, he kept reading through the list of main roles, trying to decide which one he wanted to play. He knew the other kids in the class wondered if he should really be there, and he didn't blame them. Kids like him weren't the outgoing type, and that was to put it loosely.

Tomorrow he'd show them, though. Them and the ones he'd left, too. He didn't belong with them anymore. He knew it, and soon enough they would too.

* * *

Hazel Levesque was having a bad day. It had all started that morning when, like an idiot, she'd left her math homework just sitting on the kitchen counter, along with her lunch. So she'd been homework-less, lunch-less, and luck-less all day.

During gym, they were doing fitness tests, and Hazel went up to the locker room to find someone had stolen her gym shorts so she'd had to borrow her friend Samantha's. Now, Hazel was a short girl. She was also rather skinny, and hadn't quite gotten much of a figure yet, so compared to all the other freshman girls, she was tiny.

Which meant that Samantha's shorts were way too big for Hazel. She shuddered at the memory of trying to do pull-ups in front of everyone, feeling her shorts slipping down, and praying that they wouldn't fall off entirely. The second she got off the pull-up bar, her hands flew to the waistband of Sam's shorts to pull them up higher.

Now she was sitting in drama class, staring at the audition information sheet. She was sure - just so _sure_ - that her rotten luck would hold through tomorrow's auditions, and she wouldn't get a part. She hoped beyond hope it wouldn't, but still she was sure it would.

Sam poked her with a pencil. "Can you give me a ride tomorrow morning?" she whispered. "My parents need to go to my brother's football game."

"Sure thing," Hazel whispered back, not able to stifle the twinge of jealousy that she felt when Sam asked about auditions. Sam was a great singer, Hazel knew. She had natural talent and could almost blow you away with her voice. She was even part of an all-state choir that held practices every Wednesday and Sunday. She'd get a part for sure.

"Thanks," Sam said. "I just can't wait until I can drive myself next year, then my parents will only have to chauffeur Mark around."

"Samantha and Hazel, unless you would like to share with the rest of the class, then please remain silent," Mr. Brunner said.

"Oh, that's fine," Sam replied. Then, raising her voice a bit, she said, "I was just telling Hazel about how my wonderful brother Mark is a real pain in the rear end." Most of the class smirked, and a few people snickered. Sam had that effect on people. She could say the dumbest things and still get people to laugh. _Charisma_, Hazel thought. She wished she had a little more of it. She'd kind of hoped hanging out with Sam would make some of it rub off on her, but so far she hadn't had much luck.

The bell rang, and Mr. Brunner dismissed the class, telling them to remember to bring snacks for tomorrow so they wouldn't have to act on an empty stomach. Hazel grabbed her bag and left right away, Sam soon catching up with her.

"This is going to be a fun play, I think," she said, sounding slightly out of breath.

"Yeah," Hazel agreed, not adding what she was thinking:_ If I get to be in it at all._

* * *

**Next chapter: Auditions. Have any guesses as to who will play which parts? Leave a review if you do! **


	2. Auditions, Part 1

**So who thought I abandoned this story? *everyone raises hands* **

**Well, yeah. I... finally finished this. Only took me about two weeks right? XD But life happened again, and writing was suddenly pushed back on my list of priorities :'( I also got myself Internet-grounded for two weeks starting last Friday, and I'm only supposed to be on for homework or writing purposes. And, really, updating this is a writing purpose! :D**

**Props to SaphireBlue78 (Guest) and Flabbergasted Mess for reviewing. **

***frowns* I have nothing else to say? Nothing at all? Hm. Then I guess that's that. **

* * *

Jason Grace showed up to auditions for _Les Miserables_ at nine o'clock on the dot. A few people were already there, milling around or eating a quick breakfast that they hadn't had time for before they left home.

Jason went up to Mr. Brunner and said, "Good morning, sir. Is there anything you'd like me to do?"

"No," he replied. "Just sit down and wait for me to give instructions, please. Oh, and take this." He handed Jason a note card that said _#11_. "Keep this with you, when your number gets called it's your turn to audition."

"Thank you," Jason said, putting the card in the pocket of his sweatshirt and making his way over to the other students. A few of them gave him a smile or a wave, which he returned. He sat down next to the Stoll twins, who were busy shoving each other to try and steal each other's note cards.

"Hey there, Grace," one of the twins, Travis, said to him. "Nice job last night, by the way."

Jason smiled. "Thanks, you did pretty well yourself." Travis was referring to the football game the night before. Jason was a runningback, and he'd scored two out of the team's four touchdowns. It had been a pretty fun night, especially because Reyna had been there.

Reyna was Jason's best friend. It had been that way for as long as he could remember. They'd gone to the same preschool, and Reyna had stolen his apple juice at snack time, because she'd drank all her own, and Jason's cup was still completely full. The two of them had gotten into a really big fight about it, and eventually the teacher forced Reyna to apologize to Jason, which she'd been furious about. At snack time the next day, Jason had given her his apple juice to try and make up for it - or something like that. Jason wasn't sure how his mental processes worked when he was four.

Reyna had gotten mad at him. But eventually he got her to tolerate him, and by the time they started second grade, they were the best of friends.

Jason and Reyna had done everything together. They'd somehow been stuck in the same class every year in elementary school, they played all the same sports, and they were even on the student council together this year - although it had taken quite a bit of persuading on Jason's part to convince Reyna that it was a good idea to run for it.

His mom especially liked Reyna. He could recall how, when he was in junior high, she'd liked to tease him about it, asking him "When are you going to ask Reyna out? The two of you would be so cute together!" Of course, Jason, like any other thirteen-year-old boy, had said that was way too weird. Who dated their best friend?

He still felt that way. Well, mostly. Reyna was very pretty, there was no way around it, but he liked to think of himself as her loyal, goofy, awesome brother. Anyway, having her at the football game had just made it that much better. Reyna had that effect on him. He'd tried to get her to come to auditions for the play, too, but he knew it was a lost cause. She was much more comfortable on the softball field or the basketball court than on the stage.

Jason had had his doubts about trying out for the play, too. He had a lot going on this year, between student council, and the football team, and keeping his grades up so he was eligible to stay on both. But the play had intrigued him, and he'd committed to at least trying out for a part.

He was in high school, after all. Everyone said these were supposed to be the greatest years of your life. Jason was going to try and fit as much in as possible, and still manage to live it up along the way.

* * *

Grover Underwood's note card read _#1._ Yeah, he'd been the first one to show up to auditions that morning. Dorky of him, huh? Then again, Grover's entire existence could be summed up in the word "dork."

He sat in the back of the room, the brim of his baseball cap pulled low, shielding his eyes from being seen by anyone else. But, when he thought about it, it was a pointless effort. No one here would be interested in talking to him. Grover wasn't going to deny it, and he wasn't going to complain about it, either. He was about as good with people as a troglodyte.

Besides, as he scanned the room, he was pretty sure that almost everyone here was younger than he was, most of them appearing to be sophomores and juniors. Some people might find it embarrassing to be the only senior at play tryouts, but Grover was pretty cool with it. He was kind of sure that he'd broken the embarrassment barrier in fifth grade, when he'd invited the entire class to his birthday party and none of them had showed.

They hadn't been cruel about it. They all had their excuses, a dentist appointment here, a parent's birthday there. Grover got the point.

He wasn't good enough. He wasn't outgoing, funny, or smart. What was there to like about him? Eventually, he'd gotten used to fading into the background, which he did through all of middle school and most of high school.

Then he'd made a mistake. That stupid community play. It had been a favor for his cousin, who hadn't wanted to try out alone, and he'd known that Grover liked to act and wasn't bad at it, either. So, at the end of May, the two of them had gone and auditioned for the community stage's production of _Seven Brides for Seven Brothers_. Grover had ended up playing the youngest brother, Gideon, and his cousin an extra.

All in all, it was a fun experience, and it was nice to hang out with his cousin at rehearsals every other night.

But the first performance was towards the end of July, and how was Grover supposed to have known that the headmaster of a prestigious theater school in New York City, about an hour's drive away, was going to be there?

That's right… he wasn't.

So after curtain calls, when he'd been standing next to his parents, because like all parents they wanted an infinite number of pictures taken, he'd been approached by the aforementioned headmaster.

And offered a place at the prestigious theater school for college once he got his high school diploma next May.

Which he'd accepted.

The headmaster's name was Professor Leneus, and he said Grover had potential. He had big potential, and that was why Grover had gotten an offer to attend his school. He used words like 'stage presence' and 'natural talent', which sounded almost foreign when applied to Grover. The only thing was, when he'd admitted to Professor Leneus that that had been the first play he'd ever exactly been in, he'd been encouraged to try out for his school's play.

So Grover was sitting here, saying the lyrics in his mind to "Go the Distance" from Disney's Hercules, which was the song he'd chosen to use for his audition. He hoped his voice wouldn't crack like it tended to do when he was nervous or excited about something.

Grover felt so out of place, so uncomfortable here. Not like he hadn't expected it, or anything, but still, a change would have been nice.

* * *

Piper McLean was sitting in the corner, softly humming scales to warm up her voice. She had really hoped that no one who knew her very well would be here, but of course life couldn't be that good to her.

"Hey, Pipes," Drew Tanaka said, walking over with a bright smile plastered on her face. "Didn't know you were into this acting stuff."

_I'm sure you didn't_, Piper thought bitterly. _Because once you found out my family was rich, you didn't care to find out much else about me._ "Well, you learn something new every day."

"True, so true!" Drew said, giving a small, fake laugh. "You're so funny, Pipes, you know that, right?"

Piper hadn't even been trying to be funny. In fact, there was nothing remotely funny about that statement. She understood that Drew was trying to humor her, trying to get on her good side, but quite frankly, Piper was sick of it. She wanted a friend who would actually listen to her, a friend she could have fun with and tell secrets to and who wouldn't care that her parents were in movies.

Before she could reply to Drew's comment, Mr. Brunner stepped up onto the stage and motioned for everyone to quiet down so he could talk.

When there was relative silence in the room, he started to explain some things about the audition process, and Piper found herself kind of zoning out.

She'd hoped this school would be different. All her previous schools had been the same story: everyone wanted to be her friend once they found out about her family, and they'd taken advantage of her in every way they could, until Piper went to her parents and told them that she needed to switch schools, that the one she was in wasn't a "good fit" for her.

Piper hated herself for relying on her parents to get her out of these situations. She knew she'd have to start solving her problems for herself someday. Every time she switched schools, she told herself this would be the one, the one where she would finally start taking control of her own life.

She hated it here. She'd give it another week, she decided. One more week, and then she'd tell her dad that she wanted to switch again.

Piper knew how weak she was, and she almost couldn't stand herself for it.

* * *

Frank Zhang was one of the last ones on the audition list, because he'd shown up late.

Mr. Brunner had said in class that lateness was not acceptable, but Frank had found an excuse, like always. Frank was very accustomed to excuses. He'd told Mr. Brunner, after he ran into the room, red-faced, panting, and looking rather disheveled, that there was construction work going on in the route he usually took to get to school, and he hadn't known about it until he hit the detour sign.

It was true that there had been construction work, but Frank had known about it since Thursday. What had really happened was Frank had slept through his alarm clock and been woken up by his mother vacuuming in his room. When he'd sat up suddenly, she'd looked at him in alarm and said she thought he'd already left for auditions.

That was about when Frank remembered about auditions. He'd jumped out of bed as quickly as possible, grabbed his backpack and cell phone, and dashed out to his car, forgetting about trivial-but-really-not-so-trivial things like breakfast and changing out of his sweatpants into something that actually looked decent.

He ended up being three minutes late. Not that bad, but he still came in the middle of Mr. Brunner's introductory audition speech. It was more than a little awkward. After the speech was done and everyone went to go wait, Brunner pulled him aside and put him through the third degree, asking him exactly why he'd been late, which caused Frank to rack his brains to come up with another clever, believable excuse - the construction.

Once he was excused to go wait his turn upstairs in the gym with the others, he made a quick stop to the library, sitting down at a computer desk and making a quick search on AZLyrics for 'If I Were a Rich Man' from the musical Fiddler on the Roof. He printed off the page, grabbed it, and scanned it, mumbling the words with an expression of extreme concentration on his face as he made his way to the gym.

Yeah, he still kind of needed to learn the lyrics for his audition song. He'd honestly tried to learn them the night before, he'd listened to it on loop on his iTunes while he'd lazily flipped through the channels on the TV in the basement, but there's only so much that can do.

When Frank got to the gym, he ran into the door frame. He looked up, scowling at the frame and rubbing his head, then walking in, rolling up the lyrics sheet and sticking it in his sweatshirt pocket. He'd read through them later. After all, he did have plenty of time, being the last one to audition, right?

A few of the more athletic guys, like Jason Grace, the Stoll twins, Will Solace, and a couple others, were playing basketball in the back of the gym, Annabeth Chase and her brother Malcolm were doing some kind of homework assignment, and a bunch of people Frank didn't know were milling about, talking to each other or practicing their songs. Then there were some people sitting over by the bleachers, and they didn't really look like they were doing much of anything, so Frank went over by them and pulled out his lyrics sheet again.

Frank Zhang was a self-proclaimed slacker, but at least he managed to keep on top of things _most_ of the time. And now that he thought about it, he probably should've brought his laptop so he could work on that big English character analysis essay that was due on Monday, but for now, that would have to get put off a while longer.


	3. Auditions, Part 2

**You'll probably notice that Hazel's part is considerably larger than everyone else's in this chapter... I know it is. I kind of got carried away with it and there was so much I needed to fit in and... well, yeah. You'll understand when you read it ;)**

**LONGEST CHAPTER YET IN THIS STORY! I APPROVE OF THAT AND I'M SURE YOU DO TOO! **

**I'm going to start answering ****QUESTIONS**** that you guys** **ask me in the reviews! Since I'm too much of a lazy bum to reply to all of you in a PM. If you didn't have a question in your review, that's totally fine, because I'll still thank you for your support! You guys are awesome! So thanks to MaD aS a HaTtEr 14, Wolflover40, PenMasterEm (I totally agree, Les Mis is my favorite musical :3), dramaqueen5611, and Death is my daddy (Is your pen name saying that your father is Thanatos?) for reviewing! **

**dramaqueen5611 - Yeah, Sam is like Sammy. That's how I came up with that name XD **

**MaD aS a HaTtEr 14 and dramaqueen5611 - Leo is in this chapter. See if you can find him! :D Actually, he's not going to be that hard to find. BUT HE'S THERE! **

* * *

Percy had just gotten through the singing portion of his audition (and he was sure he'd completely butchered his song), now he had to wait for his turn to do the monologue portion. He'd been given a sheet of five or six different monologues, and he was supposed to choose one that he wanted to use.

He'd been pacing around close to the bleachers, looking so intently at his sheet and trying to read it that he hadn't noticed someone's feet in his path. Like an idiot, he tripped and almost fell flat on his face, but he managed to catch himself inches before hitting the ground.

A shadow fell over Percy, and he flipped himself over and sat up, looking up at the guy who he'd tripped over. He was tall, stocky Asian guy who Percy vaguely remembered sitting behind once in algebra.

"Sorry for tripping you," he said. "I didn't even really notice you were there until you were falling."

"It's fine," Percy muttered, sitting up and brushing off his sweatshirt. "I wasn't looking where I was going." Not something Percy just liked to admit, but it was the truth.

"Right, well…" the guy looked over his shoulder at the door, then turning back to Percy, but looking at something behind him like he didn't know what to say next.

Mr. Brunner then showed up in the door, looked at his clipboard, and said, "Frank Zhang? It's time for your musical audition."

"That's me," the guy said to Percy. "I, uh… I'll see you around, I guess." Frank followed Mr. Brunner out of the gym and disappeared from Percy's view.

When Frank was gone, Percy sat down and rubbed his side where he had fallen on it. Quickly lifting up his shirt and inspecting the spot where it hurt, he saw an ugly purple bruise, and he winced. The bruise wasn't from his unplanned floor hug. It was from his stepfather.

Gabe didn't hit him often, but when he did, man, could the fat pig pack a punch. Last night, he'd walloped Percy with an empty beer bottle after Percy had refused to go fetch him some booze from the refrigerator. It hadn't done any lasting damage, but it sure had knocked the wind out of him. And apparently left a nasty bruise.

The part that killed Percy was that he couldn't complain about it to anyone. Not like he had any friends to complain to, but his mom had told him that they needed Gabe, he supported the family with the income from his job. When Percy was a baby, his mom had had to work a double job to barely make ends meet.

At least Gabe had never hit Percy's mom. If he did that, Percy was afraid he might finally snap and lash out at Gabe, possibly for the last time.

It was like living in a Disney movie, Percy thought bitterly. A twisted, sick Disney movie. Those were all about the cruel stepmothers and stepfathers, right?

The only thing was that in the movies, there was a hero. A hero who would step in and save the day and usually go through some kind of change that made them stronger, or smarter.

Percy wasn't a hero. Percy was a teenager. And a teenager with problems, at that. He wasn't particularly strong or handsome. He was just Percy.

Most of the time, he was okay with that, but there were days when he really wished a hero would surface, because heaven knows he needed one.

* * *

Annabeth sighed and leaned back, stretching and yawning. The auditions were almost over; everyone was now waiting for Mr. Brunner to come up and tell them who was needed for callbacks. Annabeth wasn't sure which she would rather have, a callback, which would mean she'd have a better chance of getting a part, or no callback, which would mean she could go home. It had been a long day.

Her brother Malcolm, who was in the grade below her even though he was only a few months younger, nudged her and said, "Think you'll get a part?"

"I don't know," she replied, closing her notebook and carefully placing it inside her backpack. Some of her favorite designs were in those pages, and she didn't want to risk getting them bent or folded. "I still don't even know if I want a part."

"Well, I do," he said. "I think the whole acting thing will be fun for a change." Malcolm had been on the stage crew alongside Annabeth for the last two years.

Before Annabeth could open her mouth to reply, a loud shushing was heard from several other people around her, and she looked at the door, where Mr. Brunner was standing with his clipboard.

"I need to see the following people back in the drama room for callbacks. I might ask you to do another monologue, or sing me a verse of your song, and if you don't get called, that doesn't necessarily mean you aren't getting a part." He then rattled off about twenty names, which was about half the group, and the ones who hadn't been called began to pack up.

Annabeth's name had been one of the last to be called. Malcolm hadn't been called and was free to go. "Can I take your car and get a coffee or something?" he asked almost pleadingly. He knew he couldn't go home without Annabeth, as both had come that morning in the same car.

"Knock yourself out, little brother," Annabeth said, tossing him the key. He slung his backpack over one shoulder and left, and Annabeth went down to the drama room.

Everyone was sitting in a desk, and Annabeth's gaze swept around the room as she tried to find a place she could sit. She spotted an open seat next to a girl with dark hair, and went to sit down next to her. When she did, the girl looked up in surprise.

"Oh… I'm sorry, I thought you were… well, someone else," the girl mumbled.

"Um… well, I'm not someone else, I guess. I'm me," Annabeth replied lamely, and in an attempt to improve the conversation, she added, "I'm Annabeth Chase. What's your name?"

"Piper McLean," she said quickly, so fast Annabeth almost couldn't understand her. McLean. The name seemed oddly familiar to Annabeth, but she couldn't think where she'd heard it before. Was there an actor or something with the same last name? Possibly. Yeah, that must be it.

When Piper didn't say anything else, Annabeth drummed her fingers on the desk, biting her lip. She wished Mr. Brunner would ask her to do something so she could escape this rather awkward situation, but when she glanced over at him, he was listening to a tall blonde boy sing. Annabeth recognized him as Jason Grace from her AP classes. "Do you like to draw?" she blurted out. It was the first thing that had come to mind.

"Not much," Piper said in that same quiet voice. "Sometimes."

Annabeth wanted to pull out her hair in frustration. This girl would just not carry the conversation!

"Annabeth Chase?" Annabeth whipped around at the sound of her name, to see that Jason Grace was done singing and had gone to go sit with some guys that Annabeth assumed were his friends, and Mr. Brunner was now calling her name. She breathed a sigh of relief, got up, and walked over to him.

"All right. Now, I'd like you to read for me monologue number five…"

* * *

Nico kind of wished he hadn't been called back, seeing as the people who were called back had to sing in front of _everyone else_.

He knew that if he did end up getting into the play, he'd have to sing in front of everyone, but honestly, he was starting to question whether it was a good idea to show up here in the first place. He was a wallflower. Practically a nobody! What did he think he was doing?

_So much for showing them that I belong_, Nico thought. If anything, he was proving that he didn't belong here at all. There was no way he was going to be able to be in a play if he got sweaty palms singing in front of twenty other people.

"Nico di Angelo?" Mr. Brunner called, and Nico slowly stood up and made his way to the front of the room, his gaze snapping back to the others every couple seconds. There were only a few people actually watching him, most of the others were talking to their friends or were extremely focused on their homework. "Could you sing the end of your song, from 'I won't look down, I must not fall?'"

Nico nodded. His song was 'This Is the Moment' from Jekyll and Hyde, a song he'd thought rather appropriate for his situation. Oh, how clever he'd thought himself when he chose his song…

He surreptitiously wiped his sweaty hands off on his pants and cleared his throat, despite the fact that Mr. Brunner had told them throat clearing hurt your voice more than it helped it. He began to sing, starting off a little timidly but forcing himself to get louder as he went on. He even tried to make his expression, normally still as stone and never changing, into one of intense hope. It was hard. Nico was about as proficient with body language as a potato.

He began to sing the third from last line, "_This was the moment… the greatest mo_-"

The line was never finished. In the middle of the word 'moment' his voice cracked, badly. Blushing furiously, and forcing himself to not look out at everyone else, he said, "Sorry. That doesn't… usually happen. When I sing." Was he really trying to make up excuses for himself? He'd failed, there was no other way around it. He wanted to kick himself into next Wednesday.

"That's perfectly all right," Mr. Brunner said, making a note on his clipboard. "You can go sit down."

Face still burning, Nico walked - more stumbling than walking - to an empty desk, and collapsed in it. Of_ course_ his voice just had to go out there. He'd actually thought he had a chance, after he'd been called back, but any of those hopes were dashed now. Mr. Brunner wouldn't want him in the play. It would be a disaster, he could see it - the spotlight would focus on Nico, he'd start singing his solo, and then his voice would squeak out of control and the lights would go down quickly as Nico was shamefully shoved off the stage. _Who will fill in for this boy? He can't sing!_

Nico rubbed his eyes furiously. There was his imagination, running wild again. He tended to fabricate the worst possible situations, even for everyday stuff, like getting your cafeteria lunch and going to sit down. What if he tripped on his shoelace, and fell, and his food spilled, and what if he happened to fall right in front of the table where the group he'd left sat? He could go on and on like that for ages if he let himself.

_Stop that_, he thought angrily. Enough things had gone wrong today. He didn't need his mind adding any more.

* * *

After Mr. Brunner dismissed those who were needed at callbacks, Hazel grabbed her backpack, pulled her phone out of it, and sent her dad a text saying she needed a ride home. She put it down, then walked out to the front door of the school building and sighed as she watched the older students, one by one, get into their cars and pull out of the parking lot. She really wished she could be just a year older so she could actually drive herself places instead of relying on her parents to do everything for her.

The only people left were herself, Sam, and two other guys who Hazel thought were in the grade above her. One was short, dark-haired, and pale, and the other was a Latino boy with curly, unruly hair. He was messing around with a few paper clips.

"So how do you think you did?" Sam asked. "I think I did okay on the singing part, but as for the monologue, I think I completely botched it up around the middle, I was stumbling all over my words and I think I was taking my breaths in awkward places and-"

"Sam, I'm sure you did fine," Hazel interrupted her friend's spiel. Hazel couldn't say the same for herself. She'd sang Colors of the Wind, and she was so sure her voice had gone extremely flat on the chorus. During the monologue, she'd tried to say part of it from memory so she could pay more attention to gestures and making eye contact with her audience rather than reading the words, but she'd accidentally trailed off in the middle of a sentence, forgot what came next, and tried desperately to find her place again while stuttering strangely. "You're _you_, remember?"

Sam raised an eyebrow at Hazel skeptically. "That means nothing, my friend. Absolutely nothing. You've known me for five years and you haven't figured out how much of a klutz I am yet?"

The Latino guy let out a short laugh, looking at Hazel and Sam and putting his paper clips in his pocket. "You can't talk about klutziness in front of me, the guy who accidentally lit a Christmas tree on fire."

"You did _not_ do that," Sam said, crossing her arms. Hazel never failed to be surprised at Sam's bravado. They didn't even know this guy, and she was talking to him like he was an old friend! "How would that even happen?"

"I shoved it into the fireplace," he said simply. "It was totally an accident, though. I'm not a pyromaniac, no need to worry, ladies. Hold on - I don't know your names. You are?"

"Samantha Barron," Sam replied. "Pleasure's all yours, I'm sure."

Hazel elbowed her and said jokingly, "We don't be rude to strangers, Sam." Then, turning to the guy, she said, "I'm Hazel Levesque."

"Leo Valdez," he said with an overdramatic bow. "Lovely to meet the both of you. What's your name?" he asked the guy standing in the corner, looking like he wanted to melt into the shadows.

"Nico di Angelo," he said, so quietly Hazel could hardly hear him.

Leo whipped out his phone. "Numbers?" Then he laughed. "Just kidding, you don't have to give me your number if you don't want to. I did kind of just meet you two seconds ago, and you never know, maybe I'll give it to a kidnapper on the way home!"

Sam laughed, and Hazel realized with a start that after she'd put down her phone to text her dad, she'd never picked it back up again, and it was still in the drama room. "I left my phone in there," she muttered to Sam, walked back downstairs and carefully opened the door.

Mr. Brunner and the musical director, Mr. Silenus, were deep in conversation, and she snuck in quietly so she wouldn't disturb them. She stopped short, however, when she heard her name being spoken.

"...Sam Barron or Hazel Levesque," Mr. Brunner was saying. "That's who I'd recommend for the part of Fantine. Sam has a great voice, but Hazel has a perfect personality for the part."

"I Dreamed a Dream is one of the most famous musical numbers in the entire production," Mr. Silenus replied. "That's not a song we can just rely on the acting ability for. We need someone with a dynamic voice."

"Both girls could play the part well," Mr. Brunner said thoughtfully.

Hazel could hear her heartbeat pounding in her head. Mr. Brunner and Mr. Silenus were considering casting _her_ as one of the most major roles in the play? It was between her and Sam? She scolded herself for even getting her hopes up about it. Like Mr. Silenus said, they needed a great singer for the part, and that was definitely Sam. Hazel would be stuck being a chorus girl, if she got a part at all.

"...Hazel?" Hazel heard her name being called, but she didn't register it completely until the second or third time. She snapped back into reality and saw Mr. Brunner standing right in front of her. Mr. Silenus was standing off to the side, pulling on his coat.

"Oh, hello, Mr. Brunner," Hazel said quickly. "I left my phone in here, so I had to come back and get it." She could see it from right where she was standing, it was laying on a chair that was positioned against the wall.

"By all means," Mr. Brunner said, moving out of her way, and she went and grabbed it. Mr. Silenus left, leaving just Hazel and Mr. Brunner in the room.

"You did well at auditions today," he said. "I was very impressed."

"Thanks," Hazel replied in a voice that she hoped didn't sound shaky. "I wasn't sure if I did so great, but I guess it turned out okay."

"Your friend Sam did wonderfully, too," he added. "It'll be tough to decide with all the talent I saw today, but I'll have the cast list up outside my room by Monday."

"Yeah, I wasn't so sure if Sam was even going to try out until today," Hazel said nonchalantly, remembering the conversation she'd heard. "She's part of this all-state choir thing, and they practice a lot. It's pretty intense." Hazel couldn't stop once she got going, so she continued, gradually feeling more uncomfortable as she went. "And since they're always practicing, I wasn't sure if she'd have the time to carry a large role in the play." That wasn't true. The choir practiced three times a week, and in the afternoons. Drama practice was in the evenings. Sam would easily be able to make it to both, at least up until dress rehearsals and performance nights, where everyone was required to be there right after school to get ready.

Mr. Brunner nodded. "I see."

The reality of what Hazel had just done hit her suddenly, and she felt a prickling sense of unease that was starting to overwhelm her. "Um. Yeah. I better go now, see you on Monday, Mr. Brunner!" Hazel left the room, walking back upstairs in clipped, awkward strides.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked when she reached the front door. "You look kind of sick." Leo had left, now it was just the two of them and that Nico boy.

"I'm fine," Hazel said, rubbing her sweaty palms off on her pants._ Sam's concerned about me, when I just lied about her to our director so I'd have a better chance of getting a part. I'm a terrible friend… I'm a terrible_ person.

"If you're sure," Sam shrugged. "Leo had to leave, but he said to tell you bye. He seems like an okay guy, doesn't he?"

"I guess," Hazel mumbled, not able to look her friend in the eye.

_What have I done? _


End file.
